siemens in healthcare
Additional ‘efficiency’ savings announced for 2010-2011 have
major implications. “In the typical Acute Hospital Trust
environment which our solutions serve, a requirement is to
secure the maximum yield on any investment that is being
made, consistent with maintaining clinical excellence.”
or PET scanning as it is more usually known -
which is used in the diagnosis of cancers. “The
approach involves injecting a radioisotope
which associates with glucose molecules and
then identifies tumours as a bright highlight.
“If a Computer Tomography (CT) scan re-
cording the patient’s anatomy is taken at the
same time, the two sets of images can be
merged so the location of the cancerous tis-
sue is more accurately identified.
“This process used to take 20 minutes and
involved passing the patient through a long,
relatively narrow tunnel so that the two stages
could be run in sequence. It was a daunting
experience for most of those involved.”
Advances in the design and underlying en-
gineering of scanners have had two benefi-
cial effects. A new generation of integrated
scanners more elegantly combines the PET
and CT stages, housing the two scanning
heads in the same gantry.
The company was recently awarded a multi- This shortens the distance that has to be
million medical imaging contract to supply traversed through the machine’s tunnel –
specialist imaging systems to University Hos- which has been widened to around 78 cms
pitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation diameter so is inherently less oppressive. The
Trust in time for its opening to patients in 2010. space required to house such a system in a
The project at the new site – which has been hospital is correspondingly reduced.
named the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birming-
ham (QEHB) - involves a multi-million pound
investment in a range of advanced technol-
Higher data acquisition speed
ogy medical imaging systems. There have also been major improvements in
the speed of data acquisition, which means
Greater efficiency demanded
that less time is needed to secure an image.
“Looking at a dedicated CT scanner, a full two-
There is, as Mr Harrison observed, a concerted metre CT body scan can be completed in less
drive within the NHS to achieve greater levels than 5 seconds as the table speed for that par-
of efficiency across the spectrum of its opera- ticular procedure is now as high as 43 centi-
Above: Brain scan while the tions. With 3.5% additional ‘efficiency’ sav- metres per second. In the case of a whole body
patient is simultaneously ings having been announced for the 2010-2011 PET/CT study, the Siemens mCT (Molecular
speaking and finger-tapping. financial year, there are implications for the CT) can acquire the image in five minutes
management of hospital resources. rather than twenty. There is clearly a leap
Opposite: The Queen Elizabeth “In the typical Acute Hospital Trust envi- ahead in terms of the productivity and patient
Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) ronment which our solutions serve, a require- throughput of such a machine, but we are sell-
where Siemens Healthcare has ment is to secure the maximum yield on any ing it to Trusts as a hybrid machine which can
secured a multi-million pound investment that is being made, consistent with be used just as a CT if required.”
contract to supply a range of maintaining clinical excellence.” Taking Peter Harrison’s statistics at face
advanced technology medical He cited the example of molecular imaging, value, this allows hospitals to schedule ca-
imaging systems. the domain of Positron Emission Tomography – pacity more effectively, knowing that they have
42
The Informed Executive
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